I’LL HAVE ANOTHER TOASTED AS CHAMP

The three cases of Corona beer arrived at the Belmont Park backstretch shortly before I’ll Have Another donned his racing saddle for the last time in a career cut far too short by tendinitis, ended far too abruptly by some very bad luck.

The Paul Reddam-Doug O’Neill Team toasted their champion horse one last time, lifting beers to the chestnut colt who put them on his back and gave them a ride none of them will ever forget. After the toasts they joined the 3-year-old son of Flower Alley on his last walk to post, out from Barn No. 9, down the long runway and through the tunnel to the Belmont Park paddock that is adorned with pine trees, oaks, maples and a bronze statue of the great Secretariat.

Instead of his Triple Crown coronation, I’ll Have Another went to post here one final time at these hallowed New York grounds that honored 11 past Triple Crown champions with his head bowed and seemingly knowing it was retirement time, not runnin’ time.

There would be no blanket of white carnations for I’ll Have Another, no Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown trophy for Reddam and O’Neill. Union Rags, a horse I’ll Have Another beat easily in the Kentucky Derby, won the Belmont Stakes by a neck over Paynter, a colt making just his fourth start.

When I’ll Have Another reached the paddock, well before the 11 other Belmont Stakes horses got there, he was met mostly with cheers, but this was New York, and yes, there were boos from a few of the several hundred crowded around the paddock. One guy yelled that I’ll Have Another was on steroids. Another yelled the dreaded term, “milkshaking.”

James Welch came from Florida to see a Triple Crown, but not this time. “I’ve seen War Emblem, Funny Cide, Smarty Jones and Big Brown all fail, so this was my big chance,” he said, hanging over a railing above the paddock. “It’s really disappointing.”

Susan Orth came in from California, from the Bay Area, but she praised Reddam and the O’Neills for retiring the colt and doing the right thing.

Team O’Neill, sporting yellow Santa Anita hats, walked their prized colt around and around the paddock circle. His pony, the $5 million champion Lava Man, was much more animated than the colt. And the barn crew was into it, too, lifting their arms to draw more applause, locking arms in a show of unity as they walked behind their Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner. I’ll Have Another just kept his head bowed.

When they finally went up the ramp to the winner’s circle, they met up with O’Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez, who was dressed in a white shirt, black tie and black pants and looked more like a Catholic school kid in uniform, not a jockey. Gutierrez, who has become a riding superstar overnight, was given one more leg up by O’Neill on a colt the Mexican national said helped him fulfill his dreams. O’Neill helped Gutierrez down and then took off the colt’s racing saddle for the final time, patted the colt on his backside and that was it. I’ll Have Another won’t run another race.